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bam thwok posted:Totally opposite opinion here. I couldn't tell if the problem was because of source material (I.e. Adhering to a specific take on a work itself loosely based on real events) but this was a mess somehow of both plot holes and contrivances. Great performances, excellent costume design/production, but otherwise a huge let down. Can you go further on this? I just got back from seeing it. Aside from Bradley Cooper playing, well, Bradley Cooper in this film, I think it was extremely well done and everything wrapped up at the end very neatly. My step-father called Cooper's character "tragic", but I could never relate to him. At the end, I was glad he got hosed over by everyone and became a footnote at best.
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Dec 26, 2013 03:50
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bam thwok posted:Agreed on Bradley Cooper being distractingly bad for this role. Not a bad technical performance - same goes for everyone, really good performances -, just...ugh, I honestly can't articulate it any better than you did. Every time he was on screen I wished he would just go away or get shot or something. You know, as I was asking my parents about this same thing, but I couldn't remember if Amy Adams was using her accent or not during the initial interrogation or not. If she was, then it dovetails in nicely with her statement about how she had all of her paperwork changed up to her birth to give the Edith character legitimacy. If she wasn't, remember, Bradley Cooper's character was crushing on Amy Adams, and was willing to semi-bend the rules during that same scene. That and he was so happy to bust them, so far stuck up his own rear end about how big he "was" and the ever expanding scope of the investigation, he may have just plain forgot that she was conning everyone with the accent. quote:As to plot contrivances, for example, the ending was pure deus ex machina. Oh, it turns out that the lawyer was actually some other guy with a funny job. I see, you tricked us!. It's one thing to have a twist arise from clues that were inevitably missed by characters and maybe slipped past an intelligent viewer. But it's another to not have those clues entirely. Without them, the movie has no claim to being clever, which is an accolade I've seen plastered all over it by reviews. Ocean's 13 was smarter than this movie when it came to setting up and consummating its cons. I never felt that the ending was pure deus ex machina as Bale and Adams's characters were established to be confidence tricksters. They even say that while Bale's character was being threatened by the mobster and his goon, he came up with the con to practically gently caress the feds and Bradley Cooper's character over. Why would they need to hint it at it, when they practically bludgeon you upside the head that it was a con? Remember when Bale went to Jeremy Renner's house? Bale pleads with him to hear out what the plan was. What happened was the plan! quote:American Hustle missed that mark on that pretty badly. Characters acted in ways that weren't internally consistent, that were exceedingly mercurial in their motivations, and generally substituted quirks and espousals for genuine development. The worst offender here was Jeremy Renner. We know he is a guy who loves the people of New Jersey because he said so about a billion times. And fine, I'll take his characterization as an upstanding, pragmatic public servant at face value. But what exactly turned him from the guy who said 'No thanks!' to a briefcase from a stranger to paying off Congressmen at the behest of the mob? True story or not, that's a serious about face that made no sense for the character. I feel like this is where Bradley Cooper's character first fucks up. He's too eager to make the bust and is trying to force the money on Renner's character. However, I don't think they ever established that Renner was upstanding. While he gave off the outward appearance of a wholesome, white-bread American, there were little signs that you may have missed that showed he had his flaws. Like wiping his hand and slightly grimacing after shaking hands with a black man. He was a state assemblyman and a mayor, but he also knew that you had to grease the right palms to get the job done. quote:I also found the style and 70s glitz to more of a liability than an asset. But I guess that's probably my most subjective criticism. What the hell was the point of that three-minute jaunt into not-Studio 54 anyway? It was already made pretty clear that Cooper and Adams were careening towards each other without it. Was it just so they could do a disco scene and have R-rated sexy moments in the bathroom (plus ADR jokes)? I felt that this part was a good counterpoint to Bale and Lawrence finally semi-enjoying each others' company. Adams was feeling left out and was probably either playing Cooper up, or was reacting out of spite towards Bale. While Bale and Lawrence were acting all classy with Renner, Cooper and Smart went to a "trashy" nightclub. It also really accentuated how hyper and how out of control Cooper's character was with the whole situation. It took Amy Adams to pretty much talk him down from almost having sex in the stall. VVVVVVV Thanks! I fixed it. DarkSol fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Dec 26, 2013 |
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Dec 26, 2013 22:54
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Jonny Angel posted:Amy Smart is not in this movie guys. Well, what about change? All of the main characters changed somehow from when they were first presented in the movie. Rosenfeld and Prosser went legit. Rosalyn found a man who was there for her. DiMaso had the most drastic change, but then ended up being right where he started. He reached too far and ended up being the same faceless G-man he was at the beginning of the film. As for Polito, he was presented as this wholesome, everyday guy with this loving family, and ended up being almost as unctuous and violent as the mobsters in the movie. I mean, Rosalyn did state that she was afraid she was going to die before she changed. Interesting sidenote, the person that Rosalyn was based off of killed herself in 1982. I wonder if the neckbrace was foreshadowing that. Or was it implied that Pete was abusing her? Or am I reading more into it than I should and it was really just a car accident? DarkSol fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Dec 26, 2013 |
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Dec 26, 2013 23:49
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bam thwok posted:I interpreted that to signify that her character had not changed, and remained a clutzy agent of chaos. Another part of the "things are returned to normal, but with our protagonist slightly better off" ending. I don't think she was nearly as klutzy as you think she was. I mean, Rosenfeld outright says that she was able to trick him, and we see that happen. You can tell she knows what she is doing when she takes advantage of Rosenfeld's love for the son he adopted multiple times The only time she is really klutzy, not counting when she puts metal into the "science oven", is when she reveals to Pete that the feds are part of the goings on. And she's doing it only because she's lashing out at Rosenfeld and is in this really vulnerable moment with Pete.
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Dec 27, 2013 00:17
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Precambrian posted:Unfortunately, I don't think this pays off for the ending where they just go straight? It felt unsatisfying. I don't mind Irving and Edith "winning," it's just that every part of the story is setting them up for destruction. The movie makes it clear that both of them just have to have what's out of their reach, they're both in way over their heads, and they're inevitably crossing some major people, either the mafia or the FBI. But then nothing happens. I don't want a morality play where the wicked are punished, it felt that Edith and Irving just cut ties too cleanly. I just left the theater thinking "that was it?" I think I'm going to have to disagree partially with you on this. Irving was always about the small con. Even in the first act, when he and Edith were building up their "empire", it was still based on the small con. When DiMaso kept reaching for the stars, Irving kept trying to talk him back down to reality. I feel like after the whirlwind adventure that DiMaso and Edith put him through, having to deal with bigger and bigger cons with no payout in sight, and his health starting to waver, I could buy him wanting to just get out of the business. For the sake of his health and his son. He was willing to sacrifice everything for his son. And in the end, he sacrificed his life of crime for stability for his child.
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Dec 27, 2013 15:59
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